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Judd Apatow's comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin is about … well … just that. Steve Carrell proved himself as Hollywood's funniest secret weapon while playing a small part as a weatherman in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Now he has his first lead role in film as a socially inept geek (he collects action figures and works at a tech shop) who tries to cover up his virginity by boasting about sexual shenanigans until someone calls his bluff. When his peers begin to apply the proverbial peer pressure, coaching him toward fornication, he suddenly finds himself in love with a wonderful woman (the always impressive Catherine Keener) and decides to put off "the big event" a little longer.

Thus, in spite of the film's incessant locker-room humor and profanity, the film's plot ultimately shines a surprising, complimentary light on abstinence and restraint. But that's not enough to save it from the wrath of Christian film critics, who, needless to say, aren't recommending it.

"There are lots of stereotypes about grown-up virgins," Peter T. Chattaway (Christianity Today Movies) observes, "and The 40-Year-Old Virgin … plays on every single one of them. But in its own peculiar way, the film stands these stereotypes on their head, so much so that, by the end, our protagonist seems like the sanest character of the bunch."

He concludes, "There is an awful lot of foul language and raunchy humor in this film, and it needs tighter editing, so I can't say I recommend it. But is intriguing to see how, even in its most off-color moments, Hollywood turns to traditional virtues for its happy endings."

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) laments, "We've seen it before. The buddies of a painfully shy, awkward guy—who has never had a girlfriend—help him find true love. But this latest incarnation … is relentlessly vulgar and frequently offensive, even beyond the false premise that there's something intrinsically wrong with an unmarried man being sexually inexperienced."

Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) says the film is "overloaded to the breaking point with vile material—both visual and verbal. Period. Do I now live in a world in which an oxymoron such as 'innocently raunchy' can actually exist? Sure, Andy is a sensitive nice-guy who finds occasional contentment in his celibacy in a culture that typically defines happiness by the number of sexual conquests one has. That's great. But are we to studiously ignore the onslaught of over-the-top foul content that surrounds him?"

Meanwhile, mainstream critics are celebrating the arrival of comedy's hottest new leading man.

Is Disney trying to encourage young moviegoers to dream about joining the military? Their latest CGI feature, Valiant, celebrates the derring-do of a pigeon (voiced by Ewan McGregor) who aspires to join the Royal Homing Pigeon Service (RHPS) during World War II. Other talents lending their voices include John Cleese, Tim Curry, Ricky Gervais, and Hugh Laurie.

Peter T. Chattaway (Christianity Today Movies) notes, "Unlike a number of recent cartoons, like Finding Nemo, in which the line between good carnivorous activity and bad carnivorous activity has become increasingly blurred and arbitrary, Valiant comes from a more old-fashioned school of thought. Here, the falcons who prey on the talking birds are the bad guys, plain and simple; meanwhile, it's okay for our heroes to eat worms, because worms are just speechless animals, and not persons like you and me."

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August (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49